Island



UNlTED STATES PA'lEN EEICE.

ZACHARIAH ALLEN, OE PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

COUNTER-PANE.

Speccaton of Letters Patent No. 9,962, dated August 23, 1853.

T0 all t0/wm it may concern.'

Be it known that I, ZAoHAnrAr-I ALLEN, of the city and county ofProvidence and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and usefulCounterpane, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawing of thesame, which makes part of this specification, and in which- Figure lrepresents a view of a fragment of a counterpane outspread upon a flatsurface, and Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same upon an enlargedscale at the line a: :c of Fig. l and Figs. 3 and 4 are sections ofcounterpanes made with cords and threads of a greater diversity ofsizes.

It has long been an acknowledged desideratuin to produce a woven cottoncounter pane, as ornamental and durable as the Marseilles quilt orcounterpane and at little if any greater price than a common calicosheet of the same size, weight, and quality of material, so that whileit would be sufficiently neat' and ornamental to adapt it to the tastesand use of the rich, its price will be so low as to bring itI within thereach of all who can afford to maintain a bed.

rllhe object of my present invention is to supply this desideratum, andit consists in weaving cloth of a width equal to the length required fora counterpane, the weft of the cloth being composed of cord and threadwoven in alternate order, the thread being the usual size for the warpemployed, and the cord considerably thicker, the different wefts beingso woven as to form a ribbed surface. The thickness and twist of thecord should be such, that when woven its tension and rigidity willproduce kinks by its tendency to untwist that will form helicoidalcurves, and give to the ribs a wavy or undulating surface, which addsgreatly to the beauty of the fabric, producing a unique appearance, andconstituting a new article of manufacture. T his fabric is produced byweaving in the usual manner in any loom fitted to throw in alternateorder a series of shuttles as numerous as the differentsizes of threadand cord employed to lill in one pick of weft each, or s o that eachwill fill in several consecutive picks of weft before the next isbrought into operation, as the relative width of the ribs to form anygiven pattern may require.

As any competent loom builder would be capable of constructing, mountingand operating a loom to produce such a fabric as I have here described,it is not necessary to embody directions in regard to the details of themachinery of the loom in this specitication; I shall therefore merelydescribe the manner in which the weft, threads and cords of counterpanesof the pattern represented in the drawing are arranged.

In Figs. l and 2, the warp threads (a) are of the kind usually employedfor weaving plain cotton sheeting, and consequently whenever the commonweft thread (b) is employed, a rib of plain cloth is madewhenever thecord (c) is thrown a strip or rib of thicker cloth is made. The broadrib l is composed of six thick weft cords; and the narrow rib 2 iscomposedA of two cords. The strips 5 and 7, of common cloth containrespectively twenty, and four threads of weft; and the two shuttleswhich this sample of the fabric requires in weaving, one for the thick,and 'the other for the small lilling, will be thrown a number of timescorresponding to the relative number of threads of the different kindsused to form the respective ribs or strips of this pattern.

Tie threads and the cords of the weft may each be of different sizes soas to form gradually swelling ribs, if it should be for any causedeemedA advisable to make the ribs in this way. in example of two ofthese modifications of the ribs is represented in Figs. 3 and d.

After the web has been woven in this manner, it is divided transverselyby cuts parallel to the strips into lengths equal to the width it isrequired to make the counterpanes; each counterpane thus cut off, willhave a selvage at its ends and will require hemming at the sides.

TWhat I claim is- 'Ihe ribbed counterpane herein described as a newmanufacture, it being so made that the thickness and twist of the cordsforming the ribs on the same by their tendency to untwist will give tothe said ribs a wavy or undulating surface as herein set forth Intestimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

Z. ALLEN.

1Witnesses:

l). Il. WATSON, l). IIANNAY.

